Leave the brayers, pallet knives, rag papers, and presses behind, and journey eastward. With brushes and barrens, master printmaker Keiji Shinohara guides participants gently through the traditional Ukiyo-e technique of woodblock printing on Japanese papers. As new practitioners, participants have time to carve small, simple blocks using one or two colors. The focus of the workshop is on observance and practice of process rather than on a producing a masterful print.
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Keiji Shinohara was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. After 10 years as an apprentice to the renowned Keiichiro Uesugi in Kyoto, he became a Master Printmaker and moved to the United States. Shinohara’s nature-based abstractions are printed on handmade kozo paper using water-based pigment onto woodblocks in the ukiyo-e style–the traditional Japanese printmaking method dating to 600 CE. Though Shinohara employs ancient methods in creating his woodblock prints, he also diverges from tradition by experimenting with ink application and different materials to add texture to his prints. He is currently teaching printmaking at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and has been a visiting artist at over 100 venues and 30 solo shows. He has received grants from the Japan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and his work is in many public collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Library of Congress.

Rare Books is pleased to support the Book Arts Program with its collections.

Altar Book of Gorecki
Middleton, CT: Robin Price, Publisher, 1996

Inspired by a 1992 recording of Henryk Goreski’s Symphony No. 3. English translation by Krystyna Carter. Calligraphy of Polish lyrics by Paul Shaw. Bird illustrations are from seventeenth-century copperplate engravings by Francis Willughby. Photographed by John Wareham, the illustrations were digitally adapted and made into polymer plates by Gerald Lange. Woodcut designed and carved by Keiji Shinowara. Triptych structure with the consultation of Daniel Kelm. Box design and construction by Franklin Nichols Woodworking. Designed, printed and bound by Robin Price. Edition of sixty copies.

A record of the poetry reading at the University of California, Davis, on May 16, 1975. Woodcuts by Keiji Shinohara. Issued in slipcase. Edition of one hundred and fifty copies, signed by the artist. University of Utah copy is no. 62.

The foundation of Hedi Kyle’s deceptively small and simple book flag book structure is an accordion folded spine. Flaps attached to both sides of each of the spine’s mountain folds allow the artist to fragment and layer a number of complementary or contrasting images and narratives. When the flag book spine is pulled fully open, the fragmented images on the flaps come together to create a large, panoramic image. Participants experiment with complementary and contrasting text and images and discuss the effects of different spine and page dimensions, direction of motion, and which images are most successful. Students learn a tidy, non-adhesive method of covering boards and use a jig to facilitate quicker, more precise assembly. While this is not a computer class, digital printing and setting up Photoshop templates for pages, covers and spines is demonstrated.
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Karen Hanmer’s artists’ books are physical manifestations of personal essays intertwining history, culture, politics, science and technology. She utilizes both traditional and contemporary book structures, and the work is often playful in content or format. Hanmer exhibits widely, and her work is included in collections ranging from Tate Britain and the Library of Congress to UCLA and Graceland. Solo exhibition venues include Florida Atlantic University, University of the West of England Bristol, and the Center for Book Arts (NYC). Curated exhibition venues include the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Brooklyn Museum, Harvard University’s Fogg Museum of Art, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft; and traveling exhibitions sponsored by the Guild of Book Workers (US), Designer Bookbinders (UK) the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists’ Guild, and Les Amis de la Reliure d’Art du Canada.

Hedi Kyle flag book structure. One side of each flag has text, the other side of each flag has a color image which is part of a family photograph. The family photograph becomes whole when the accordion folds are stretched and the pages fall open. Text is from a letter written from Italy in 1954 by a military wife to her relatives. Upper and lower boards are covered in reproduction of a photograph of an American woman [the artist’s mother] on a balcony overlooking Florence, Italy. Issued in an artist-made phase box of green map folder stock with fabric hook-and-loop fasteners.

Get a handle on what it takes to crank out an edition of gorgeous letterpress prints. This active, eight-week class introduces the fundamentals of letterpress, from paper selection and cutting to mixing ink and printing. Guided by Crane Giamo, participants design and produce several individual projects using a variety of relief techniques and tools including metal and wood type, zinc cuts, linoleum blocks, pressure prints, photopolymer plates, and collagraphs.
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Crane Giamo is the studio manager and faculty instructor in the Book Arts Program at the University of Utah, and the lead printer for Red Butte Press. He is the co-founder of Delete Press, a poetry publishing outfit for which he works as letterpress printer, bookbinder, and papermaker. Crane’s own artists’ books can be located under the imprint Pocalypstic Editions. He holds an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama, an MFA in Creative Writing from Colorado State University, and an MA in Poetics from the University at Buffalo.

Text printed from photopolymer plates on a Vandercook #4 letterpress. Red paint slashing across the book is hand-painted using iron oxide pigment mixed with acrylic medium. Handbound in Japanese stab-stitch structure. Edition of twenty-five. University of Utah copy is no. 8.

Bring a personally challenging story to retell in a new light or a daily routine to reconsider and reframe. With a focus on finding joy and beauty in the everyday, participants stamp out insecurities, recontextualize shortcomings, and re-imagine the self in book form. In this workshop, employ ink, brushes, stamps, mark-making tools, text, and re-collected common objects to produce process pages. Through a reimagining of the past, reinvent present perspective with an open heart, mind, and eyes toward gratitude and compassion. Instructors demonstrate a binding to be completed post-workshop from produced sheets. Come with a willingness to play with color, shape, narrative, and texture.
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Julianna Christie graduated from Wellesley College and holds a BA in English Literature and Studio Art, with an emphasis in bookmaking. Upon graduating, she worked at the Center for Book Arts and Granary Books in New York City. She has been making books for over 20 years, with books held in Special Collections libraries at Wellesley College and Harvard. She incorporates collage, photography, sewing and love into her books. Julianna is also a life coach, specializing in personal growth and transformation. In her coaching, she invites clients to explore the art of storytelling, using words and imagery to examine and ultimately re-conceive a happy life.

Marnie Powers-Torrey holds an MFA in photography from the University of Utah and a BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College’s Honors Program. She is the Managing Director of the Book Arts Program and Red Butte Press, an Associate Librarian (Lecturer), and academic advisor for minor and certificate students in Book Arts. Marnie teaches letterpress printing, artists’ books, and other courses for the Book Arts Program and elsewhere. She is master printer for the Red Butte Press, harnessing the mighty printing power of a full staff of excellent printers. A founding member of the College Book Arts Association, she served as Awards Chair for three years and currently serves on the board of directors. Her work is exhibited and held in collections nationally.

Edition of ten copies. University of Utah copy is no. 4, signed by the author.

Emily Tipps is the Binding Instructor, Program Manager, and an Assistant Librarian (Lecturer) at the Book Arts Program at the University of Utah, as well as the proprietor of High5 Press, which publishes innovative writing in the form of handmade artists’ books. She holds a BA in English from Wesleyan University, an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado, and an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama. Emily’s work is exhibited and held in collections nationally.

Take digital lettering to new depths during this three-day intensive with Spencer Charles, one of the rising stars of contemporary typographic design. Participants learn the tools and techniques to make a curvaceous catchword, magnificent monogram, pithy phrase, or dynamite drop cap. Output finished vector drawings to photopolymer plates and produce letterpress printed in limited editions. Printing experience is not necessary, but a working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator is strongly recommended.
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Spencer Charles is a typographic designer and letterer residing in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from the University of Utah, his interest in hand lettering developed as a chalkboard/signage artist for Whole Foods. In 2011, he moved to New York to work as Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd, a design studio specializing in logo, food package, and book design. He is currently working independently and is expanding into typeface design and illustration.
David Wolske is Assistant Librarian (Lecturer) and Creative Director for the Book Arts Program and Red Butte Press. He has taught design, typography, and letterpress printing at Indiana University, Herron School of Art & Design, the Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, and The University of Utah. David’s letterpress work is featured in multiple design and letterpress publications. He holds awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Type Director’s Club, and the Society of Typographic Arts.

From the colophon: “To commemorate the rededication of the J. Willard Marriott Library on October 26, 2009, the Book Arts Program and Red Butte Press produced this keepsake. Utah Poet Laureate Katharine Coles and artist Mary Toscano responded to the newly refurbished Malby Globes housed in the library. Designer David Wolske brought the elements together, and Program staff printed the broadside in the Book Arts Studio.” Edition of three hundred and seventy-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 264, signed by the poet and artist.

Broadside advertising the closing reception of the AIGA exhibition, “50 Books/50 Covers,” with a screening of the film, “Proceed and Be Bold.” From the colophon: “Design and letterpress printing by Spencer Charles and David Wolske…”

Rare Books is pleased to support the Book Arts Program with its historical, fine press, and artists’ books collections.

Produce vivid blue prints from opaque silhouettes, hand-drawn imagery, transparent photocopies, ortholithographic film, or digitally produced transparencies. With a simple set-up that can be repeated at home, expose hand-coated sheets to natural light for a unique, tactile photographic print. A thrilling new technology in the 1840s, the cyanotype is celebrated today for its hand-generated possibilities through low-tech practices.

Instructor Marnie Powers-Torrey holds an MFA in photography from the University of Utah and a BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College’s Honors Program. She is the Managing Director of the Book Arts Program and Red Butte Press, an Associate Librarian (Lecturer), and academic advisor for the minor and certificate in book arts. Marnie teaches letterpress printing, artists’ books, and other courses for the Book Arts Program and elsewhere. She is master printer for the Red Butte Press, harnessing the mighty printing power of a full staff of excellent printers. A founding member of the College Book Arts Association, she served as Awards Chair for three years and currently serves on the board of directors. Her work is exhibited and held in collections nationally.

Relicensure points are available from the Utah State Board of Education.

From the colophon: “This special edition…is limited to 100 numbered copies, each including an original cyanotype printed in 1996 by James Hajicek from a vintage dry plate negative in the collection of Jeremy Rowe…” University of Utah copy is no. 92, signed by the author.

This workshop focuses on the construction of a flatback lap-case binding. The lap-case binding, sometimes mistakenly called a modified Bradel binding, has been used frequently over the years for editions bound by Jensen Bindery, BookLab, Inc. and BookLab II. The structure has continuously evolved through its many applications. This workshop tracks that evolution, specifically addressing structure, materiality, and the relationships between parts to make a beautiful looking and functioning book. Examples of various lap-case bindings are available for students to examine. Previous bookbinding experience required, preferably previous leather working skills.

Instructor Craig Jensen began his career in 1977 when he was appointed Library Conservator for the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University in Provo Utah. From 1977–1978 Craig served an internship at The Library of Congress Restoration Office under the direction of Peter Waters and Don Etherington. In 1981, Craig was recruited by Don to serve as Head of Book Conservation at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Conservation Department at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1988 Craig became President and CEO of BookLab, Inc., a partnership with Gary Frost, Paul Parisi of Acme Bookbinding and Jim Larsen of Bridgeport National Bindery. BookLab expanded its offerings beyond edition binding and box making to include library repair services, and pioneered preservation photocopy and digital reproduction of out-of-print brittle books. BookLab was one of the first companies to digitize a book. Following the close of BookLab in 1998, Craig worked for Acme Bookbinding as Vice President for Imaging. In January 2003, Craig returned to his roots and predilection for hand work by forming BookLab II in San Marcos, Texas. He continues to produce custom designed housings and fine limited edition bindings for some of the best-known libraries and private presses in the world. In 2011 Craig received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Guild of Book Workers.

Artists’ statement: “Twenty wooded acres surround Midnight Paper Sales in western Wisconsin. This book documents the journey Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec into the woods to create a work not only about these trees, but of these trees. In all, 24 species have been catalogued through image, historical anecdotes, and notes taken during the cutting, milling, engraving and printed. The 53 images consist primarily of long grain and end grain specimens which have been taken from this property. In each case the image is manipulated through either color, impression, engraving, or some combination of the above to emphasize a certain characteristic of a species. The text varies as well from tree to tree, focusing on what role each played in the local history and in this project.” Illustrated by Gaylord Schanilec with 53 relief prints (wood cuts and wood engravings) printed by reduction process engraving directly from the wood specimens; including two fold-out illustrations of the maple grove and a map of Farm 590 indicating where the wood was harvested. Letterpress printed by Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec on Zerkall mould-made laid paper. Michael and Winifred Bixler cast the Monotype Bembo. Lapped case binding by Craig Jensen and Gary McLerran in quarter leather over bare quarter-sawn white oak boards, white alum-tawed goat skin spine with tooled title lettering in gold. Issued in a dark blue Japanese cloth slipcase, lined with black paper. Awarded the Gregynog Prize at the Oxford Book Fair, 2007. Edition of one hundred and twenty copies. University of Utah copy is no. 105, signed by the author and the artist.

In 1981 William A. McDonough founded William McDonough + Partners which designs environmentally sustainable buildings and industrial manufacturing processes. He attended Dartmouth College and Yale University. His first major commission was in 1984 for the Environmental Defense Fund Headquarters. He re-engineered Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, covering more than ten acres of the roof of the truck assembly plant with a low-growing ground cover. He is the only individual recipient (1996) of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development. In 2004 he received a National Design Award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. His essay, “Something Lived, Something Dreamed” was commissioned by the Red Butte Press. Printed with Monotype Univers and Didot on cotton paper commissioned from Cartier Magnani paper mill in Italy by Marnie Powers-Torrey and Jennifer Sorensen using an 1846 Columbian handpress. Illustrated by Christopher Stern (d. 2007). Bound at Book Lab II (San Marcos, Texas) by Craig Jensen in recycled aluminum donated by Alcoa, over sycamore boards. Edition of one hundred and twenty-five copies. University of Utah copies are nos. 34 and 47.

This gem of a workshop introduces the fundamentals of letterpress, from paper selection and cutting to mixing ink and printing. Practicing a variety of techniques and using an array of media – miraculous moveable type, dazzling zinc cuts, luscious linoleum blocks, and precious pressure prints, among others – participants design and produce several projects with the jewels of the Book Arts Studio: its flatbed cylinder and clamshell platen presses.

Instructor Claire Taylor is the Studio Manager at the Book Arts Program. She received a BFA from the University of Utah in printmaking in 2007. Working mainly in letterpress and drawn media, she exhibits nationally.

Relicensure points are available from the Utah State Board of Education.

Trapazoidal pages in which the top edge has been trimmed on an angle. Accordion structure bound in cloth covered boards. From the colophon: “The text was composed in Spartan, Futura and Baskerville types by Bell Type and Rule Co., printed on Roma paper, written, designed and bound by me. The zinc cuts were colored by a letterpress method invented by Dikko Faust of Purgatory Pie Press.” Edition of twenty-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 25, signed by the author.

Pages attached to a concertina with most pages having a circular silk tissue window so that the preceding and following pages show through. From the colophon: “[W]ritten designed and [letterpress] printed by Macy Chadwick…Printed with pressure prints and polymer plates on Mohawk [sic] Superfine and French’s Extra Blue Butcher paper…Window images hand-stenciled on Silk Tissue.” Edition of fifty copies, numbered and signed by the author/artist. University of Utah copy is no. 26.

In this two-day printmaking powwow, Mare Blocker outlines methods for making images on transparencies as well as strategies for photopolymer intaglio printing and registration. Participants use black or tonal artwork on clear transparency to expose and develop a light sensitive photopolymer plate. By hand-wiping the photopolymer plate, participants create an original intaglio print using an etching press. Suitable for recreating an impression of a photographic image, rather than a highly detailed version. This method is ideal for those who want to reduce toxic materials in their studios. Discussion topics include ink, paper, and dampening choices. Open to all ages. Drawing experience preferred but not required.

Mare Blocker has been making limited edition and unique books since 1979 and established the MKimberly Press in 1984. She earned a BFA in Ceramic Sculpture at the University of Washington and an MFA at the University of Idaho. Her work can be found in over 85 public collections and museums including The Victoria and Albert, the J. Paul Getty Museum, The University of Washington Special Collections, The Albertson Library at Boise State University, and The Library of Congress. Mare has been a Library Fellow award winner from the National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC and a Sally R Bishop Artist in Residence at the Center for Book Arts in New York. She is the President of the Book Arts Guild, and is on the Board of Directors for the College Book Arts Association.

Typeface is Twentieth Century Medium Italic. Handset and printed on an Asbern letterpress. Photographs are gum bichromate prints, photolithographs, and intaglio prints from photopolymer plates. Edition of 15 copies, signed and numbered. University of Utah copy is no. 4.